Majus

{{Short description|Term for Zoroastrians}} {{italic title}} {{expand Persian|date=May 2024}} {{Copy edit|date=July 2025}} '''''Majūs''''' ({{langx|ar|مجوس}}) or '''''Magūs''''' ({{langx|fa|مگوش}}) is a term that originally referred to the Magi, the Zoroastrian priestly caste of ancient Persia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=de Jong |first1=Albert |author1-link=Albert de Jong |editor1-last=Curtis |editor1-first=Vesta Sarkhosh |editor2-last=Stewart |editor2-first=Sarah |editor1-link=Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis |title=Birth of the Persian Empire |date=2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-85773-307-8 |page=92 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9RKJDwAAQBAJ |language=en |quote=Most of our evidence for that later history comes from the Sasanian period (224–642 CE). In post-Sasanian Zoroastrian sources, the Pahlavi books, the word mogh (mgw), the Middle Persian descendant of Old Persian magu-, is hardly ever attested. Instead of this generic word, more specific titles are always given; where a generic word is necessary, the word mard, "man", is used. Since many reconstructions of Sasanian history are based on sources from later periods, the existence of the word in Sasanian Iran has sometimes been obscured. It is, however, not only frequently found in non-Iranian Sasanian sources (in Aramaic, Syriac and Greek), but it is also very well attested in the most reliable Iranian sources from the period itself, namely personal seals. In fact, the word mogh is a very common word on Sasanian seals and bullae. The word had a long and distinguished career in Islamic Persian poetry (pīr-e moghān etc), which shows that it had not disappeared from the common speech of the Persians. The question therefore arises why the Zoroastrians, who formulated their tradition in the 9th century, wanted to get rid of it, but so far no reasonable hypothesis has been suggested for this problem. The only suggestion one can think of that makes sense is the fact that the Aramaic word ''magūšā'' and the Arabic ''majūs'' were used not just to refer to Persian priests, but to Zoroastrians in general, and that the term came to be felt to be misleading for those who wanted to distinguish themselves as members of the priestly class.}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|article=Majūs|editor=Steingass, Francis Joseph|editor-link=Steingass, Francis Joseph|encyclopedia=A Comprehensive Persian-English dictionary, including the Arabic words and phrases to be met with in Persian literature|location=London|publisher=Routledge & K. Paul|year=1892|url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.6:1:824.steingass.201687|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713061634/http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.6:1:824.steingass.201687|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 13, 2012}} p. [https://archive.today/20120712022242/http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/contextualize.pl?p.6.steingass.201629 1179].</ref><ref>See also: [http://www.google.com/search?as_sitesearch=jstor.org&as_q=majus+magi&hl=en references to Majus/Magi in academic publications]</ref> In Arabic usage, it was soon generalized to denote all Zoroastrians.<ref name="Gabr">{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Iranica|article=Gabr|year=2001|volume=10|publisher=Mazda|location=Costa Mesa|url=http://www.iranica.com/articles/v10f3/v10f311.html|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070908182843/http://www.iranica.com/articles/v10f3/v10f311.html|archivedate=2007-09-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Ashton|first1=Nigel John|authorlink1=Nigel J. Ashton|last2=Gibson|first2=Bryan R.|title=The Iran-Iraq War: New International Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s1yz8zxs7NIC&pg=PA19|accessdate=18 August 2017|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-68524-5|page=19}}</ref> The term was borrowed into Arabic via Imperial Aramaic ({{langx|arc|𐡌𐡂𐡅𐡔𐡀⁩|mḡušā}}) from the Old Persian ({{langx|peo|𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁|maguš}}). The same Old Persian root was independently borrowed into Ancient Greek as ''mágoi'' (μάγοι), the term that appears in the Gospel of Matthew.<ref>[https://biblehub.com/niv/matthew/2.htm Matthew 2 - biblehub]</ref>

In early Islamic texts, Majūs was a technical term that initially had no pejorative implications. In the Quran, verse 22:17 lists "the Magians" (''al-majūs'') alongside Jews, Christians, and Sabians as a distinct religious community that will be subject to God's judgment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Magians - Ontology of Quranic Concepts from the Quranic Arabic Corpus |url=http://corpus.quran.com/concept.jsp?id=magians}}</ref><ref>[https://cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/history/Muslim%20Perceptions%20of%20Other%20Religions.pdf ''Muslim Perceptions of Other Religions: A Historical Survey. Oxford University Press''] file p. 22 and 218. Jacques Waardenburg (1999). ''{{ISBN|0-19-510472-2}}''</ref> Some Islamic scholars have held the theological position that pre-Islamic Arabs were closer to the Abrahamic tradition than the Majūs, whose dualistic theology was seen as fundamentally different.<ref>{{cite web |date=20 January 2020 |title=آیا می دانید مجوسیان بدترند یا عرب جاهلی ؟ |url=https://www.sibtayn.com/fa/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=80742:majoos-zartosht&catid=2577&Itemid=2324}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=مجوس - ویکی‌پرسش |url=https://wikiporsesh.ir/%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%B3}}</ref> The term was also used in a polemical context by writers such as ibn al-Jawzi, who framed Zoroastrian beliefs as deviations from an Islamic perspective.<ref>''[https://archive.org/download/TheDevilsDeception_201406/TheDevilsDeception.pdf Talbis Iblis (The Devil's Deceptions)]'' by Ibn al-Jawzi</ref>

The New Persian term ''gabr'', likely derived from the Aramaic ''gabrā'' ("man"), was used as a synonym for Majūs in early texts. Over time, ''gabr'' acquired pejorative connotations and is now considered an offensive slur in Persian;<ref name="Gabr" /> the respectful term for a Zoroastrian is ''Zardoshti''. The label "fire-worshipper" is a common but inaccurate description applied to Zoroastrians by non-adherents, based on a misinterpretation of the central role of fire in their rituals.

Historically, the term's application expanded. Chroniclers in al-Andalus used al-Majūs to describe Viking raiders, extending the label for one group of non-Abrahamic people to another, likely because Norse practices such as cremation were misinterpreted as fire-worship.<ref>[https://vdoc.pub/documents/vikings-in-the-south-voyages-to-iberia-and-the-mediterranean-15510rhl4ah8 Vikings In The South: Voyages To Iberia And The Mediterranean]</ref>

In the 20th century, the term was revived for political purposes. During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, the Ba'athist government of Iraq used majūs in its propaganda to refer to Iranians. This rhetoric was intended to de-legitimize the Iranian population on religious grounds by implying they were not sincere Muslims but were covertly practicing their pre-Islamic faith. This framing presented the war not only as a matter of Arab nationalism but also as a campaign on behalf of Islam.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Al-Marashi, Ibrahim |date=2000 |title=The Mindset of Iraq's Security Apparatus |journal=Intelligence and National Security |volume=18 |issue=3 |page=5 |doi=10.1080/02684520412331306900 |s2cid=153691094}}</ref>

More recently, some Salafi and Wahhabi polemicists and extremist groups have used majūs as an anti-Shia slur.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rumi |first1=Raza |date=May 2015 |title=The Prospects for Reform in Islam |url=https://www.hudson.org/research/11172-the-prospects-for-reform-in-islam |journal=Current Trends in Islamist Ideology |volume=18 |pages=85–103 |accessdate=3 April 2018}}</ref> This usage attempts to link Shia Islam to its Persian origins, portraying it as a vehicle for pre-Islamic, Majusi beliefs. While distinct from the general Arabic term ''kafir'' ("unbeliever"), majus functions as a targeted slur with specific historical and sectarian connotations.

==See also== * ''ajam'', "mute", non-Arab, Iranian * ''ahl al-Kitab'', "People of the Book" * ''dhimmi'', "protected" * ''kafir'', "unbeliever" * Zoroastrians in Iran * Zoroastrians on the Indian subcontinent ** Iranis ** Parsis

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{Characters and names in the Quran}} {{Religious slurs}}

Category:Arabic words and phrases Category:Zoroastrianism Category:Religious slurs for people Category:Anti-Iranian sentiment Category:Racism in the Middle East Category:Anti-Zoroastrianism Category:Magi Category:Arab supremacy